Mike Nadel: Respect seems burdensome to surging Sox

Sunday

They're always begging for love, angling for attention and pleading for respect, so Saturday must have been a wonderful day for the White Sox. Right?

They're always begging for love, angling for attention and pleading for respect, so Saturday must have been a wonderful day for the White Sox. Right?

As Bobby Jenks shut down the heart of the order to preserve a thrilling, well-earned, 6-5 victory over the suddenly vulnerable Cubs, cheers rained down from the most distant reaches of Sox Park.

Ah, sweet love.

Observers of the game (including doubters such as the one you're reading now) couldn't help but be impressed by the White Sox bullpen, by often overlooked Jermaine Dye, by ever-spectacular glove man Joe Crede and by silent assassin Carlos Quentin.

Nice. Attention, and not just for some outrageous Ozzie Guillen utterance.

And even though Cubs manager Lou Piniella looked exhausted from having to deal with the first rough patch of the season - a 4-7 mini-slump that underscores his team's need for another quality starting pitcher - he found the energy to declare his South Side neighbors official AL Central favorites.

"The White Sox should win that division by half a dozen games or more," Piniella said. "They've got just about everything that's needed. They've got power. They've got a good defensive team. And they've got a hell of a bullpen.

"Everybody looks at the Cubs. Look at the White Sox! They're a pretty good ballclub."

Jackpot! Respect!

OK, let's follow Lou's lead and look at the White Sox. What do we see?

Because they rely so heavily on home runs and because they, too, appear to be at least one starter short, I'm having trouble wrapping my arms around "great" or "very good" or "eventual division champions." I have no problem, however, with Piniella's description: "a pretty good ballclub."

The White Sox play hard and often play quite well. They also are resilient. Knock them down - as the Cubs did last weekend - and they'll bounce back up just to spite you.

One week after getting swept, the Sox are poised to return the disfavor. The Cubs reached the season's midpoint at 49-32, by far the National League's best record, but it's the White Sox who are on a roll.

Because they almost always are seeking validation and because they view themselves as Chicago's ultimate underdogs (even during their march to the 2005 World Series title), the Sox didn't know exactly how to respond to Piniella's proclamation.

"That's nice. Thank you," Guillen said. "Coming from Lou, we should. Coming from Ozzie, you're crazy. If I say that, the city would be like, 'Look at that; another stupid thing he just said.' Coming from Lou, God bless him."

Said A.J. Pierzynski: "Apparently he hasn't seen the rest of our division. The other teams are pretty darn good. I don't know ... that's a compliment, I guess, from Lou."

The White Sox have too little speed, too many codgers, too many streaky hitters and too few dependable starters. Still, their bullpen goes six deep and their lineup includes pros who have been to the summit.

Then there's Quentin, who had to earn the left-field job in spring training after being acquired in a seemingly minor deal.

Pierzynski said he's an intense, quiet loner. Guillen called him "grumpy." The statistics - Saturday's decisive seventh-inning homer off Carlos Marmol gave Quentin 18 HRs and 60 RBIs in 80 games - say he's been one of baseball's most productive hitters.

The Cubs also had some highlights in the fun, exciting game, chiefly Derrek Lee's 5-for-5 performance and starter Sean Gallagher's gutty (albeit ugly) outing. They were done in by their lowlights, mainly Aramis Ramirez stranding seven runners in an 0-for-5 choke job and Marmol giving up Quentin's winner.

It's been a rough ending to an otherwise stellar first half for Marmol. Last week, he suffered through mysterious control problems; Saturday, he left an 0-2 pitch right in Quentin's wheelhouse.

Piniella ended his press conference by saying he wasn't worried about the valuable, young right-hander. As Lou stood up, he was asked: "Why not?"

"Why should I be?" he said, walking away. "Everybody is prone to have a time that they're gonna struggle. Nobody's perfect. If they were, you couldn't pay me enough money.

"I'm not worried about anything. Our guys played hard. We just fell a little short. I'm proud of them. Give the White Sox credit."

Consider it done ... even if Ozzie's lads are reluctant to accept it.

Mike Nadel (mikenadel@sbcglobal.net) is the Chicago sports columnist for GateHouse News Service. Read his blog, The Baldest Truth, at www.thebaldesttruth.com.

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